Dera Bassi, July 3
A thief was allegedly beaten to death in Bhagat Singh colony, here, last night.

According to information, house owners and other people in Bhagat Singh colony beat up a thief who was trying to enter a house to steal.

Later, the police was informed and he was taken to police station. He was brought to Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi, in a serious condition and referred to GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh. DSP Jatinder Singh Khaira confirmed he death of the injured thief.

He said that thief was handed over to his relatives for treatment at GMCH-32 but later the thief died.

According to information from the hospital, Deevani, son of Badal Singh, resident of Rajasthan, was brought to the Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi, at around 4 am from where he was referred to GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh in the presence of the police. The police officials could not explain the sequence of events leading to his death. 

Rangoli competition
Senior section: Sarthak School, Panchkula, Sector 19, Government Senior Secondary School, Panchkula, Sector 23,
Government Senior Secondary School, Panchkula, Sector 15,
Junior section: JP Gurukul School, Pinjore-1, JP Gurukul School, Pinjore-2, Government Senior Secondary School, HMT -10.
Painting competition
Senior section: Vaishali and Yatika, St Vivekanand Millennium School, Pinjore, Ankita and Aman Preet, St Vivekanand Millennium School, Pinjore, Pranay and Himani, SD Model School, Panchkula.
Junior section: Sonal and Shiv Preet, St Vivekanand Millennium School, Pinjore, Hardeep GMS School, Kalka, Sandeep and Rohit GSS Sector 4, Panchkula.
Slogan writing 
Senior section: Anjali Tiwari, St Vivekanand Millennium School, Pinjore, Aniket Gupta, GMSS School, Kalka, Priyanka, Girls Senior Secondary School, Pinjore.
Junior section: Maninder, Sarthak School, Panchkula, Sumit GMSS School, Kalka, Sonika Singla, Amravati Vidayala, Panchkula.

Ambala, July 3
The special investigating team (SIT) of Ambala range will bring Gobind, an accused in the Bobby murder case to Ambala, on a transit remand for interrogation. The Chandigarh and Haryana police team in a joint operation arrested him after a short encounter at Chandigarh on July 2. Two of his associates managed to flee from there.

Ambala Superintendent of Police Shashank Aanand said the Ambala police wanted Gobind in several criminal cases and he would be brought on a production warrant at the earliest. A few accused of this case were still absconding and the firearms used in the murder were yet to be recovered, he added. Ambala gangster Rakesh alias Bobby, was shot dead outside the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court at Ambala City on March 3, when he was coming out of the court after the hearing of a case. According to the statement of his mother who was present in the court at the time of the incident, three persons, one of them who were wearing the dress of a lawyer, fired at him from a close range, outside the CJM court.

In fact the murder of Bobby was the fallout of a gang war, which had taken the lives of around 12 persons of Ambala Cantt in the past five years. The members of a rival gang, also shot Bobby’s sister Ritu, dead at her residence inAmbala Cantt in September last along with one of her relative. Bobby was involved in a number of murder and ransom cases. Initially, the Ambala police had booked five accused, including Nishan Singh, Kulddep Singh, Gobind, Vikram alias Banti and another in this case.

Chandigarh, July 3
In the absence of regular vacancies, five additional judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court will continue on the same post.

The President of India has extended their tenure as additional judges for another two years due to the non-availability of regular posts. They are expected to be re-administered oath as additional judges by Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal next week.

The extension came just about two years after they were administered oath. The judges, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, Justice Rajan Gupta, Justice Ajay Tewari, Justice Jitendra Chauhan and Justice AG Masih, are expected to become regular judges of the high court as vacancies arise following the superannuation of some of the regular sitting judges.

As of now, a move is on to increase the retirement age of the judges from the current 62 to 65 years. In fact, the Union Ministry of Law and Justice has initiated the process of increasing the age after years of deliberations. Already, a Cabinet note prepared by the Justice Department has been circulated among some ministries, including the Finance and Personnel for comments.

Once the move comes through, the high court and the Supreme Court judges would retire at the same age. It would only mean further slow down in the process of regularisation of additional judges. As such, calls for increasing the number of vacancies of regular judges can be heard loud and clear in the legal circles.

As of now, the high court has a record number (47) of judges. Thirty-five of them fall in the regular category. The total sanctioned strength of the high court is 68. With Justice Nirmaljit Kaur’s elevation, the number of women judges also increased to three for the first time in the high court’s history. The other women judges are Justice Daya Chaudhary and Justice Sabina.

Chandigarh, July 3
Just over a year after the Punjab and Haryana High Court underscored the need for laying down the parameters for court reporting, the Full Court comprising all judges yesterday gave its nod to the move to grant accreditation to court correspondents.

Under the approved rules, they need not be law graduates. The development is significant as the high court believes that accreditation will go a long way in instilling a sense of belonging among the correspondents.

Available information suggests that the moot point before the Full Bench was whether accreditation should be granted only to law graduates covering the high court or not. A section of judges was of the view that the accreditation should not be limited to just the law graduates and should be granted to correspondents good at covering the beat.

In any case, it was felt that the non-accreditation of a journalist would not prevent him from reporting the court proceedings. After debate of sorts, it was decided not to limit the process just to law graduates.

The observations were made by Justice Ranjit Singh while taking notice of reports carried in a section of media on the issue of mining in Aravali hills. Justice Ranjit Singh was of the opinion that the case was being covered in an “opiniated” manner. 

Zirakpur, July 3
A 25-year-old youth was killed after his scooter was hit by a speeding tractor-trolley on the flyover at Ambala-Chandigarh here this morning.

The deceased has been identified as Chitranjan Pandey, a resident of Palm Enclave, Pabhat village. He was working as a computer operator in a private company at Chandigarh. The investigating officer Ram Dayal stated that the incident took place around 10 am when Chitranjan was on his way to Chandigarh from Zirakpur.

When he reached on the flyover the driver of the tractor-trolley suddenly applied the breaks and the scooter rammed into a tractor-trolley while he was overtaking from the right side. Subsequently, he fell down on the road and sustained serious injuries, the investigating officer added.

A passerby immediately informed the highway patrolling police who rushed the injured to Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi, where the doctors’ team declared him brought dead. The body of the deceased has been handed over to the family after conducting a post-mortem examination. The driver of the tractor-trolley managed to flee the scene.

The investigating officer stated that a case had been registered against the tractor-trolley driver.

Mohali, July 3
The Mohali police has solved at least nine cases of theft with the arrest of four members of a gang.

Stolen items worth Rs 2 lakh have been recovered from them. Mohali SSP GPS Bhullar said the gang was active in Mohali, Kharar, Zirakpur and Chandigarh for the past few months. They had stolen ready-made garments, gold jewelry, mobile phones and had even attempted thefts at an ATM of Indian Overseas Bank in Mohali.

Acting on a tip off that four members of the gang were coming from Kharar in an auto, the police nabbed Manoj Kumar, Vinod Singh, Jagmohan Singh and Anil Kumar and recovered gold jewellery and wristwatch. All the suspects were staying in a rented accommodation at Mohali and Kharar.

After being produced in the court, they were remanded to police custody till July 4. The solved cases include theft of garments at a shop in Matour village, theft of gold jewellery in Kurali, theft of AC copper pipes, theft of gold jewellery at Kharar and Zirakpur, theft of wrist watches at Phase XI, and theft of mobile phones at Chandigarh. All recoveries have been made against registered cases.

Chandigarh, July 3
The Queen’s Baton Relay for the Commonwealth Games received a cold response in the city today despite the presence of legendary sportspersons, including sprinter Milkha Singh, cricketer Kapil Dev and Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra.

The audience, though not large in number, however, showed great enthusiasm when the baton reached Matka Chowk in a big procession at 5.20 pm today.

From Chandi Mandir, the baton was taken into an open gypsy up to Matka Chowk. Amidst applause, 83-year-old Milkha Singh received the shining baton from UT Sports Secretary Sanjay Kumar.

Officials of the Queen’s Baton Relay and budding sportspersons of the city accompanied the Milkha Singh. After running for about 200 metres, Milkha Singh handed over the baton to former Indian hockey coach Rajinder Singh senior.

At 5.30 pm, the baton reached the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium amidst colourful balloons and melodious tunes by the Military Band.

ICC Cricketer of the Millennium Kapil Dev took a round of the stadium with the baton before handing it over to the Olympic gold medallist and ace shooter Abhinav Bindra, who culminated the relay in the city by handing it over to Advisor to the UT Administrator Pradeep Mehra.

After a fine show by the Army Band and a cultural programme by local students, the function came to an end by 6.45 pm.

The baton has been stationed at the UT guesthouse and will leave the city for Una in Himachal at 8 pm tomorrow. 

Chandigarh, July 3
Even as the Queen’s Baton arrived in the city for the first time, the common man’s dream to touch the baton remained a distant dream due to security reasons.

People, who had gathered to have a glimpse of the baton, were not even allowed to come near it. Though the baton was supposed to be open for public view, nobody was allowed to come near it due to security reasons.

“It was very surprising for us that people were not allowed near the baton. But security of the baton is priority for us,” said Alka Lambha, convener of the Queen Baton’s Relay.

“My brother from Amritsar told me that he has clicked a photograph with the baton when it was exhibited for the public at Company Bag there, but here we did not get a chance to even see it from a short distance,” said a sports enthusiast. Moreover, people were not allowed near the stage at the stadium where baton was placed.